News Release

“Clinton’s Claims on Fossil Fuel Funding: Greenpeace Responds”

April 1, 2016

The Greenpeace A.E. Bates thermal airship flies over Seattle, Washington, with Mount Rainier in the background on March 25, 2016 urging Hillary Clinton to reject fossil fuel money in her campaign. The Democratic caucuses are March 26, 2016. Photo by Marcus Donner/Greenpeace[/caption]

Clinton responded, “I do not have — I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies. I am so sick — I AM SO SICK — of the Sanders campaign lying about me. I’m sick of it.” See video.

EVA RESNICK-DAY, MOLLY DOROZENSKI, via Perry Wheeler , perry.wheeler at greenpeace.org, @greenpeaceusaResnick-Day is the activist with Greenpeace who questioned Clinton on Thursday. Dorozenski is the democracy campaign director at Greenpeace. Resnick-Day said after her exchange with Clinton: “To be clear, we are talking about more than just individual contributions from oil and gas employees. According to data compiled by Greenpeace’s research department, Secretary Clinton’s campaign and the Super PAC supporting her have received more than $4.5 million from the fossil fuel industry during the 2016 election cycle. Eleven registered oil and gas industry lobbyists have bundled over $1 million to her campaign.” See from Greenpeace: “Hillary Clinton’s Connection to the Oil and Gas Industry.”

Resnick-Day also noted: “Greenpeace USA along with 20 organizations launched the pledge to #FixDemocracy, asking ALL presidential candidates to reject future fossil fuel contributions, champion campaign finance reform and defend the right to vote for all.

“When we launched the campaign, Sanders signed the pledge immediately. Hillary’s campaign responded, but did not sign. Unsurprisingly, the Republican presidential candidates who won’t even admit that climate change is real, while real communities on the frontlines are already impacted, did not respond to our request. …

“This is by no means the first time that we asked Hillary Clinton the question. In fact, last night, over 40 activists gathered outside of a Hillary Clinton Fundraiser at the Dakota, asking Senator Clinton to come out and talk to the people she is fighting for. She did not cross the street to talk to us. …

“On April 18th in Washington, D.C., thousands of activists from groups like Public Citizen, the NAACP and Communications Workers of America will take action in an event called the Democracy Awakening to call on our leaders to get the big money out of politics, restore voting rights, and prioritize building a strong and healthy democracy. I’ll be there and I hope you’ll be standing beside me so that candidates like Hillary Clinton can’t ignore us any longer.”

Dorozenski responded in a statement: “Secretary Clinton cannot ignore the voices of activists asking her to reject fossil fuel money, or explain away the more than one million dollars she takes from fossil fuel lobbyists. We would welcome a statement from Clinton saying that she plans to stop taking this money going forward to prove to young people like Eva that she’s listening to them, not her biggest donors. …

“Secretary Clinton is conflating Greenpeace with the Sanders campaign, but we are an independent organization, and our research team has assessed the contributions to all Presidential candidates. We have not and will not endorse candidates.”